The team of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food is working to secure the upcoming irrigation season," This became clear during today's meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Forestry of the National Assembly.
“The inflow to a large part of the complex dams is reduced at the moment, which is usual for the autumn-winter period of low water," said Snezhina Dineva, the Executive Director of "Irrigation Systems" EAD.
She announced that now, after several consecutive very dry years, the complex and significant dams of the company are filled to 35.5% of their total volume." According to her, last year farmers declared 334,000 decares for irrigation. Dineva assured that the condition of the dams is daily observed with a water level elevation monitoring. "A normal irrigation season assessment could be done after the spring flood of the rivers at the end of April and May. In case of insufficient water at the end of May, water supply will be carried out according to a schedule and a campaign is currently underway to notify farmers," explained Dineva.
Deputy Minister Kapitanov announced that a package of documents to equalize the irrigation water price has been submitted. "The aim is farmers to be compensated for their water costs by setting a price competitive for them," explained the Deputy Minister. He added that the package of documents has been finalized and is about to be presented to the Council of Ministers.
Deputy Minister Kapitanov explained that a total of 142 sites have been approved after an inventory review of the irrigation infrastructure. “We prioritize urgent repair tasks to be conducted in places in order to restore the most important section. For example, we intend to quickly restore the "Pyasachnik" pumping station," he said.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Georgi Tahov indicated that the new budget, which is expected to be adopted by the National Assembly, envisages expanding the irrigation system by building several dams and replacing pumping stations. “This is an ambitious goal and we hope to absorb as much of the budget funds as possible,” he said, adding that a Water Advisory Council to plan the activities will be convened.